A dark comedy about an infantry platoon that goes behind enemy lines to steal gold bars. Their leader is Kelly (a young Clint Eastwood), an ex-officer who lost his commission after a fratricide incident. With Kelly is the reluctant Sergeant (Telly Savalas), a tank commander (Donald Sutherland), and a scheming supply sergeant (played well by Don Rickles).
The humor is good, though dated with Sutherland acting like a “Hippie” throughout the picture – you have to see it to believe it. Surprisingly for a film of this theme, the film production did an incredible job of recreating WWII scenery with numerous authentic vehicles and weapons; jeeps, Sherman tanks, even T-34 tanks modified to look like German Tiger tanks (these were acquired from a Russian source that used them for one of their films, and are very likely the same ones used in “Saving Private Ryan”).
Humor is mixed with action and some dramatic moments. Probably one of the most unusual scenes is midway through the movie when the tank platoon, under command of “Oddball” (Sutherland) attacks a railroad installation occupied by German units. Bullets and cannon shells erupt in all directions with the tanks oblitering the place, all while Oddball’s crews play country-western music through loudspeakers mounted on their tanks.
The film keeps your interest. It’s interesting to note that it was filmed in the ex-Yugoslavia region.
Cast
- Clint Eastwood as Private Kelly
- Telly Savalas as Master Sergeant “Big Joe”
- Don Rickles as Staff Sergeant “Crapgame”
- Carroll O’Connor as Major General Colt
- Donald Sutherland as Sergeant “Oddball”
- Gavin MacLeod as Moriarty
- Hal Buckley as Captain Maitland
- Stuart Margolin as Private “Little Joe”
- Jeff Morris as Private Cowboy
- Richard Davalos as Private Gutowski
- Perry Lopez as Private Petuko
- Tom Troupe as Corporal Job
- Harry Dean Stanton as Private Willard
Tags: Kelly's Heroes